Folding umbrella.



J. & E'. P. SOLOMON.

FOLDING UMBRELLA.

APPLICATION FILED MAY?, 1909.

J. & F. F. SOLOMON.

FOLDING UMBRELLA.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 7. 190s.

5 Qa w. mm wf m ,u mw@ w .MH 5. .30M hm 2 ,l MB @o A m 5S m2 J. m a r d M f f. O www Jr Ma mw JOSEPH SOLOMON AND FRANK F. SOLOMON, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

FOLDING UMBRELLA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 7, 1909. Serial No. 494,532.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Beit known that we, JOSEPH SOLOMON and FRANK F. SOLOMON, citizens of the United States of America, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Folding Umbrellas, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invent-ion relates to folding umbrellas, and more particularly to that class in which both stick and ribs are adapted to be reduced in length, by telescoping the stick and folding back of the ribs.

The objects of the invention, are, first, to provide an umbrella that can be readily reduced in its longitudinal dimension so that it can be placed in a comparatively small receptacle, as a hand bag or the pocket of a coat; second, to afford means for quickly restoring the parts to their extended or open position; third, to furnish means for rigidly securing the canopy of the umbrella to the stick in such a manner as to prevent the accidental collapsing of the umbrella when open; and fourth, so design and construct the parts as to give the requisite strength and rigidity without unusual increase in the weight and dimension and to supply movable parts having the desirable quality or durability and so related as to be readily assembled and repaired. These and such other objects as may hereinafter appear are accomplished by a mechanical construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a portion of an umbrella constructed in accordance with our invention, with the umbrella in an open position, Fig. 2 is a similar view of the umbrella in a folded position, Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a portion of the umbrella, Fig. l is a horizontal sectional view of the same taken on the line X-X of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrow of said figure, Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevation of the detached ribs of the umbrella, and Fig. 6 is a front elevation of a portion of the same.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the stick of the umbrella is composed of three tubular telescopic sections, the said sections consisting of a handle section 1, an intermediate section 2, and a tip section 3, each of the said sections are of different diameters with respect to each other, the section of smaller diameter being the tip section 3 and said section 3 is hollow, but if desired, for a portion of its length, it may be made solid. The upper end of the tip section 3 is provided with a tip 4 and adjacent to said tip is a notched collar 5 with which the upper ends of the inner ribs engage, the said ends of the ribs are secured to the notched collar in the well known manner, that is to say, by a suitable wire, (this is not shown). The collar 5 is provided with the usual groove 6 for the reception of the fastening wire for the upper end of the inner rib. The lower end of the tip sect-ion 3 is fiared as at 7, said flared end extending into the upper end of the intermediate section 2. The diameter of the flared end 7 of the tip section 3 is slightly less than the inner diameter of the major portion of the intermediate section 2 whereby the intermediate section 2 can telescope upon the tip section 3. This latter section adjacent to the flared end 7 thereof is provided with a vertical slot 8 and pivotally mounted in said slot by a pin 9 is a latch 10, bearing against the inner edge of said latch is a flat spring 11, and secured to the inner side of the section 3, as at 12, said spring normally maintaining the latch 10 in an eX- tended position relative to said slot.

The upper end of the intermediate section 2 is contracted, as at 13, and fitted upon said contracted end is a runner 111 having the upper end thereof provided with a grooved and notched peripheral flange 15 to which the stretchers of the umbrella are connected. The ruimer 14 slidably engages the tip sect-ion 3 and is provided with a vertical slot 16 adapted to register with the slot 8 and allow the latch 10 to hold the end of the intermediate section 2 in a fixed position relative to the tip section 3.

The intermediate section 2 of the umbrella stick has the lower end thereof flared, as at 17, to snugly fit into the handle section 1, which is adapted to telescope the sections 2 and 3. rIhe end of the section 2 is slotted, as at 18, and pivotally mounted in said slot is a latch 19 pressed by a flat spring 20 secured in the section 2. rlChe latch 19 is adapted to engage the upper edge of the handle section 1 and normally prevent the section 1 from telescoping the sections 2 and 3.

rIhe ribs which serve to support the cloth which forms the canopy, are each composed Patented Feb. 15, 1910.

of two sections, an upper ribbed section 2l and a lowerl ribbed section 22, the upper section having one end thereof pivotally connected to the notched collar 5, while the opposite end is pivotally connected to the lower' ribbed section 22.

rlhe manner of pivotally connecting the ribbed sections 21 and 22 together, is as follows z- The confronting ends of these sections are enlarged, as at 23, and provided with apertured lugs 24:, the openings of said lugs 24 alining for a pivot pin 25, thus permitting of the lower section 22 being swung upwardly to a plane parallel with the section 2l.

rlhe lower end of the ribbed section 2l is provided with angularly disposed apertured lugs 26 and pivotally mounted between said lugs is the outer end of a stretcher 27 having the inner end thereof connected to the flange l5 of a ruimer 14. The lugs 26 are right angularly disposed with respect to the lugs 24.

As in all umbrellas, we provide a cover 2S which is fastened above the notch 5 and to the ribbed sections 2l and 22. The cover Y is preferably made of frictionized silk capable of withstanding considerable folding without slitting or becoming worn to that extent as to allow rain to seep or pass through the same. The material for the stick and rib sections can be made of any suitable metal, we prefer, however, to employ steel, and the objectionable features inherent in steel, namely, the tendency to oxidize, is obviated by subjecting the parts to the well known bluing process, which has the double advantage of producing the desired temper and at the same time rendering the metal non-corrosive.

To fold the umbrella from an open to a closed position, the latch 19 is pressed inwardly to allow the handle section 1 to telescope the intermediate section 2. The latch l0 is then pressed inwardly to allow the runner 141: and the intermediate section 2 to move toward the notch 5 and telescope the section 3. The rib sections 22 can then be folded into parallelism with the rib sections 2l, all of this being accomplished without injuring the cover 28.

In order that the umbrella can be folded in the above manner, it is necessary that the upper ribbed sections 2l be made of a length slightly greater than that of the stretchers 27, and the cover 28 is designed whereby the upper and lower ribbed sections 2l and 22 will be slightly bowed, when the umbrella is in a slightly opened position.

Having now described our invention what we claim as new, is:-

In a folding umbrella, a stick composed of a handle section, an intermediate section, and a tip section, said intermediate section and said tip section having the lower ends thereof flared and said intermediate section and said handle section having the upper ends thereof reduced, said reduced upper end of said intermediate section having the outer face of its upper portion cut away to provide a peripheral shoulder adapted to be engaged by a runner whereby said runner will extend over the cut away portion of the reduced upper end of the intermediate section, said tip and said intermediate section at a point in proximity to the flared lower end thereof provided with a longitudinally extending opening, longitudinally extending springs secured to the inner faces of said tip and intermediate sections and projecting across said openings, latches pivoted in the openings of the tip and intermediate sections and bearing against said springsv and adapted to engage respectively the edges of the contracted end of the intermediate and handle sections for maintaining the tip and intermediate sections extended with respect to the handle section.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH SOLOMON. FRANK F. SOLOMON,

`Witnesses A. H. RABsG, Max H. SRoLovrrz. 

